2 Sisters et 1 Cat, de Taïwan à Québec: Vanilla Crème Brulée "Not" (香草"不"蕾)

My little sis and I were talking about the upcoming holidays and what she's going to make for her friends to sweeten them up. (Really? With her skill of cooking???! XD) After carefully thinking about it, she told me that she wanted to make crème brulée. (Wow, so ambitious!!!) She asked me if it were possible to make a "double flavored" crème brulée, which would have a layer of cocoa powder on both the top and bottom of the the custard. Yummy! But unfortunately I had to tell her that it's not possible to do that for the bottom, only the top.

(閱讀中文請看續文)

I also suggested a chocolate crème brulée, but since I'm not so much of a chocolate person myself, I wasn't so keen on the"cocoa idea". Besides, without the crusty sugary topping, it wouldn't be a crème brulée... or would it? Ultimately, we settled on the idea of dusting cocoa powder on top of a classic vanilla crème brulée custard (well, you know any recipe for my little sis has to be easy!), and as for the result, it was actually quite good! Even for a non-chocoholic like myself, I was pretty surprised at how much I enjoyed it!

So there, that's the story of how this crème brulée recipe was born! It's not your classic crème brulée, but in a way, it is. If there's anything, I made this recipe even lighter, healthier, yummier (with real vanilla beans, of course!), but it still keeps its creaminess. I know we're "breaking the rules" but I never really liked eating all that sugar on top anyway; the best part for me is the custard.

There's another good reason to make this recipe: if you're someone who's intimidated by the idea of using a torch (or perhaps you don't even own a torch, like me), you'll be glad that there's no torch gun and no flaming involved. In a way, it's even easier than making a crème caramel, but shhhhhhhhhh...don't tell your guests. Make this for your Christmas party and I guarantee your guests will be very impressed both by the taste and the appearance!!!

Vanilla Crème Brulée "Not" (6 serveings)

1/2 fresh vanilla bean (or 1/4 if you're using vanilla sugar)

A: 250 ml (about 1 C) cream

240 ml (about 1 C) half and half

4 T cane sugar or vanilla sugar (if you saw my earlier post and made some)

B: 4 large egg yolks

2T maple syrup or cane sugar

about 1/4 C good quality dark cocoa powder

1. Bring a pot of water (about 2 or 3 cups, depending on the size of your roasting pan) to a boil.

2. Place six 4-oz (125 cc) ramekins in a deep roasting pan.

3. Cut open the vanilla bean piece and scrape out as much of the seeds as you can with a small paring knife.

4. In a medium size pot, add the vanilla seeds, the empty vanilla pod, and ingredients A. Gently heat it over medium heat just before it comes to a boil. Turn off the heat, cover the pot and let it sit for 10 minutes. *For this procedure, you must keep your eyes on it!

5. Preheat the oven to 300ºF.

6. Whisk ingredients B together in a medium size bowl.

7. Slowly pour in mixture A to B and whisk at the same time. Be sure to pour the cream mixture very slowly and keep whisking.

8. Strain it through a fine sieve.

9. Pour and divide the mixture evenly into the ramekins. Place the whole roasting pan (with the ramekins) in the oven on the middle rack. Carefully and slowly add enough hot boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the the ramekins. Bake until almost set, though still slightly wobbly, 25 to 30 minutes.

10. Remove the roasting pan from the oven. Put the ramekins on a rack and let them cool. Cover with plastic wrap and chill them for at least 1 hour.

11. Simply sprinkle the cocoa powder through a fine sieve over the chilled custard. If you have some mini decorative cake stencils, you can use them to create fancy designs, as well!

crème brulée is supposed to be made in the oven but since my sis doesn't have one (which is quite common in Taiwan), I'm adding this steaming method below as an alternative.

Steaming Method:

1. Skip steps 1 and 2 (from above); prepare six 4-oz (125 cc) ramekins and set them on the side.

2. Heat the steamer.

Follow step 3 through step 8 above.

9. Pour and divide the custard mixture evenly into the ramekins. Place all the ramekins in the steamer and steam over low heat for 25-30 minutes, until almost set, though still slightly wobbly.

Finish with steps 10 and 11 above.

(See below for more photos)

前陣子和老妹聊天，講到聖誕節即將來臨，想做個特別的甜點讓同事們開心過節.. (老妹的廚藝，他們真的會開心嗎? XD) 她想了一下之後說想做布蕾，她問我「我想撒點可可粉增加第二種味道..但整體仍以雞蛋布蕾為主角..你覺得這樣會好吃吧? 還是把可可粉加在底層? 或換成布丁底層那種焦糖漿?」Um…聽起來不錯，但是要上下都有可可粉是不可能的，只能放在上層。

此外，我也向她提議直接改做巧克力布蕾之類的，就不需這麼麻煩還要分上中下層，畢竟是甜點門外漢，還沒學爬就想跑.. 太傻太天真! 加上我自己並不是那麼愛吃巧克力，所以對加可可粉這主意並不怎看好，更何況，沒有了上面那層脆脆的糖霜，還能當它是布蕾嗎??? 但.. 我最終還是決定先嘗試在上方撒可可粉這個主意。我必須承認，在嘗試之後，我發現它竟然意外的好吃，連我這個不是那麼愛巧克力的都忍不住上癮!! (是不是!!! 可可粉是好物!!!) ß 來自遙遠的台灣老妹的含扣